>> Friday, February 19, 2016

By Manny Galvez

CABANATUAN CITY– A congressional candidate of the Nationalist People’s
Coalition in Nueva Ecija has been disqualified over her American citizenship
and void registration.

In a nine-page decision issued on Thursday, the Cabanatuan Municipal Trial
Court Executive Judge Kelly Belino ordered the Commission on Elections to
exclude Rosanna Vergara’s name from the list of candidates.

The court described as “meritorious” the evidence presented by the
petitioner, Philip Piccio, a registered voter of Barangay Kapitan here,
that Vergara is not eligible to run in the May elections.

Piccio is an ally of Nueva Ecija Gov. Aurelio Umali, who is running
against Vergara in the third congressional district.

The court described as “misplaced” Vergara’s claim that her voter
registration had not been deactivated when she became an American citizen.

“She may be a registered voter considering her name is incorrectly
included in the active list of registered voters, but that does not make her a
valid registered voter in the eyes of the law,” it
said.

Court records show Vergara registered as a voter in Barangay Bantug
Norte on June 21,1997. On May 20, 1998, she was issued an American passport
after she was naturalized as a US citizen.

She had her biometrics taken when she transferred her registration to
Barangay Rizdelis on Dec. 7, 2003.

The court said the restoration of Vergara’s right to vote when she
reacquired her Filipino citizenship in November 2006 “cannot cure her void
registration.”